Post Partum Horror-mones and Deodorant

I have started this post and deleted it several times, because I don’t want y’all to be grossed out by my odiferous admissions. But I am willing to humiliate myself in the interest of saving my fellow sisters some embarrassment. I do it for you.

My peeps. My posse. My homies.

Five months after I had my first baby I went back to work in the very hot month of August. I’ll never forget being in the teacher’s workroom wearing a sleeveless denim shirt with a red and blue plaid broomstick skirt and red huaraches. (It was the 90′s okay?!)

Since the teachers were getting ready for the first week of school, the copier had been running most of the day so that small room was a smidge toasty.

I was chatting with my friend, Deborah, and remember thinking, “Shew! She must have forgotten to apply her deodorant this morning because it smells kinda funky in here.” After a while I went back to my classroom feeling sorry for the poor dear for her oversight and a realization slowly dawned on me that stopped me in my tracks and made me want to lock my classroom door and not come out.

The smell had followed me. The smell WAS me.

Since that time, I have had 7 more babies, and I have come to expect that for several months after I have a baby I have super sonic sweat glands.

I know. It’s a gift.

So, here’s what I have FINALLY, after several years of applying deodorant multiple times throughout the day, figured out.

Instead of using the solid that I normally like, I have to switch to Secret aerosol, which I only have to apply once a day. (They are not paying me to say this! Although, I wouldn’t mind it. Ahem.) I don’t know what that product has in it that the other one doesn’t, but it is the one and only thing I have found that keeps me from smelling like a men’s locker room.

Not that I have been in a men’s locker room, mind you, but I’m guessing here.

So, there ya go. Now you know my embarrassing story of The Day Smockity’s Sweat Glands Stank Up The School.

Comments

Oh, that is good! And it reminds me of today. I decided I was going to get in a workout no matter what so we went into town to run our errands with a stop at the gym first. I decided to really kick it up a notch today with my workout and afterwards in the library I realized the smell I could smell was not the stockyards, but myself!

I am laughing and feeling sick about this post all at the same time! You go girl! Maybe next year you can get a sbsummit scholarship from Secret….
but we might need to hold it in a hotter location so everyone knows it really works!
Toni

Oh goodness! I thought it was just me who had serious armpit problems after having babies! Lol! I use Mitchum mens clear gel deodorant during that “fun” odiferous time of life. I’ve also noticed it’s not just my pits that are in overdrive. :p Postpartum my hair is a grease factory and my mammaries are making as much sweat as milk. Got any cures for those?

I’m right there with you! Well, not today. Not there, in your house, with you. But I, too, have experienced first-hand those post-partum stanky hormones. I also use an aerosol spray. I don’t remember which brand, maybe Dove, in a baby powder scent. It’s light and airy and as long as I’m carrying a baby around, I might as well smell baby powdery. It also doesn’t attract bees, of which I’m very much appreciative!

I haven’t been able to find ANY aerosol deodorant by me for over a year. I wonder if there was a legal thing that happened, like with the change in asthma inhalers – they can’t be aerosol anymore.

Baby is 2 months old and I think it has gotten better since he was born but during pregnancy..seriously! I would have the teenage boy sweat rings all the way down my sides even when I didnt feel that warm! Sheesh! Ah..the things we sacrifice for our children ..like, feminine dignity

I can relate! I am blessed by not being a very sweaty person, but when I am pregnant or nursing I sure do create a funky underarm odor even though I am not sweating. Currently pregnant and smelly, I often have to wash and reapply mid day.

Strangely enough, having children seems to have done two wonderful things for me- greatly reduced my cramps and diminished the amount I sweat! But around college and shortly thereafter? I would sweat SO much. It was horrible- I don’t know WHAT was wrong with me! But you know what? I, too, came to rely on Secret aerosol… I think THAT’S the stuff they were talking about when they said, “Strong enough for a man…”

After I had Noah my sweat glands went into overdrive and NEVER slowed down. I’ve never been one to sweat much anyway, let a lone stink it up. I quickly found myself scrambling for a solution. I’ve tried almost every single stick deodorant on the market, even the clinical strength ones. In in the end, I also found Secret aerosol to do the trick.

It’s been more than 14 years since I had my last baby and I do not recall having over active sweat glands. However in the last say 5 years I have noticed that I seem to sweat in some unusual places that I don’t recall sweating in unless I was working out REALLY hard before! What I do in times like that is make use of J&J Baby Powder in lavender scent. I sprinkle some in my undergarments and stay cool and fresh through the day

I am giggling because I, too, have this problem after having babies. However, my baby days are over. **sniff sniff** Dumb hysterectomy! Anyhoo, thanks for posting! I noticed post hysterectomy I stunk for about a year!

I noticed the same thing about the aerosol after I had a mammogram. They had the spray in the dressing room to put on after the ‘smash’ was over, since you can’t use deodorant when you’re having that done. It was SAUVE aerosol and it worked better than any dry I’ve ever used!

That is too funny, not funny about the stinky part, but I love the way you worded it. I know what you are talking about, after three kids, I have had your same experience. You just gave me my laugh of the day, and trust me I needed it!!

My problem was when I was pregnant with my 3 children. I normally have this WONDERFUL ability to never smell anything but sweet. It is a gift that my husband loves and it makes him mad at the same time. We can go and run several miles and I will be sweating profusely, but at the end I still smell like shampoo, perfume, laundry detergent, smell like the outside (cut grass, wind blown), or you can still smell my natural scent, etc and he has b.o. But we can always tell when I am pregnant right away (before the hips and boobs get bigger) and is because I can’t retain smell. The perfume and soap smells just seem to vanish within a few minutes of application.

Glad to know I am not alone in this. I noticed after my third child that my underarms would smell horribly, no matter the amount of deodorant I applied. Just had my fourth last year and it lasted the entire time I nursed. I started using Secret Clinical Strength and it worked for me. I love the blogosphere in that it helps me feel more normal when I read others deal with the same issues as me! Thanks for being open.